St. Paul daily globe., 1887-11-18
HOW SWORD BEARER DIED.
Indian Inspector Armstrong Back From
the Grow Reservation.
A CHAPTER ON INDIAN WARS
Interesting Details of the Recent
Trouble and How the Troops II.
Squelched 1t.


reservation since the trouble began
which eliminated in the death of Sword
Bearer, arrived in st. Paul yesterday,
having left Fort Custer Tuesday even
ing. Tall, erect, cOmpactly built and
with his white mustache and English
side whiSkerS framing ruddy face,
Gen. Armstrong looks every inch the
80 ldier, and his movements betray his
training at West Point quarter of
century ago. He is warm, personal
friend of Secretary Lamar, who Sc
lected him for his present mission as
one who could be relied upon to carry
instructions from the interior depart
ment to the letter, and the manner in
which he accomplished his task has al
ready become historical. Seated in the
rotunda of the Ryan yesterday after
noon, Gen. Armstrong gave detailed
account OF the causes that led to the
recent disturbances on the Crow reSer-
vatiOn, which, he said, have been brew
ing for the past two years. The most of
the mischief was done last spring when
Sitting Bull, with party of Sioux war
riOrS, numbering about 100, came to the
Crow reservation and pitched his camp
almost within a stones throw of the
Custer monument and began to har-
rangue the Crows. He made a strong
impression upon the young men of the
latter tribe, and especially when he
began to recount his exploits in his con-
tests with the whites. Another weak
point that he played upon with great
stress was the fact that the Crows did
not receive the same consideration at
the hands of the government that his
warriors did, and he was partly right.
Owing to the fact that the Crows
helped themselves in making living,
they did not receive as full rationS as
the Sioux and especially in the matter
of beef. This was not lost sight of by
the willy Sioux chief, and he taunted
the Crows with weakness in permitting
such a discrimination. My people
would not stand it," he said on one Oc-
caSiOn, land when the white men would
not accede to our demands we went to
war with them and forced them to give
us more. Many of them were killed, as
that monument (pOinting to the shaft
erected to the memory of Gen. CUSTER
will show you. Don't give in
TO THE WHITE MEN,
and they will treat you as they have the
Sioux"
Such language inflamed the young
bucks of the Crow tribe. ''There is a
good deal of human nature in an Indian
after all, ;" said the general, ''and, like
readers of dime novels, they were anX-
iOuS to display their powers. And no
one was more instrumental in keeping
alive this feeling than 'Chees-ta-PaSh,'
or 'Wraps-His-Tail,' who has been more
recently known as Sword Bearer. He
acquired this last title from the fact
that he carried cavalry saber, which
I, IL Il. f1I1 %oI,
and that all he had to do was to point
it at the white soldiers and they would
drop dead. AS medicine man he eX-
erted powerful influence i'm the tribe,
and was ably supported by Crazy Head,
who is mixture of negro, Piegan and
Crow, and Deaf Bull, both of whom
cOunSeled retaliatory measures against
the whites on every occasion. This trio
kept matters at fever heat, and it waS
at their suggestion that the last raid was
made by the Crows against the PiegaHS,
during which number of horses were
taken and the cattle of the Indians and
some of the white settlers were slaugh-
tered by the raiders. -...e.
Returning from their successful
fOray about the latter part of Septem-
ber. Sword Bearer and his party deter
mined to fire into the agency buildings,
although they did not evince a diSpoSi-
ton to kill anybody. 1t was about dark
when they made their way into the
reservation, shooting and firing their
rifles in the air and striving to incite
the other Indians to an inSurrectiOn.
One of the Interpreters was standing in
front of the traders store when mem-
Der of the raiding party walked up to
him, pressed the muzzle of his gun
against his breast, then slowly raised it
above his head and fired it off. Fearing
trouble, the agent sent for a company of
cavalry and they arrived on the scene
the same evening, but no attempt was
made to arrest theiparticipants,Ow owing to
the darkness. The next day, however,
agents office and given a good talking
to. According to the Interpreter, who
was present at that consultation,
THE MEDICINE MAN
was very naughty and declared that he
would never consent to be arrested and
locked up in the guard house. That
was the time he should have been taken
into custody. but the agent did not un-
derStand the tenor of his remarks and
permitted him to go back to his people,
''ThingS went from bad to worse,
until finally was ordered to the reSer
vation and the aid of the military was
invoked to arrest the offenders. All
this time Crazy Head had been profess
ing amity with the whites, but we
learned that while he would talk very
smoothly when with us, as soon as he
returned to his tribe he would reverse
his language. This was demonstrated
the night preceding the SkirmiSh in
which the medicine man was killed and
the Crows taught lesson that l do not
think they will ever forget.
The demand had been made for the
surrender of those concerned i'll the
firing into the traders store, one of
whom was Crazy Heads son, and who
is one of the eight prisoners DOW con-
fined at Fort Smelling. Indian police
were detailed to keep Crazy Head, Deaf
Bull and Sword Bearer under Surveil-
ance. and while these three was COLI
sulting together in lodge, one of our
men was outside and heard their con-
versation. Crazy Head was foremost in
favor of fighting the whites and coun-
Selled strongly against Surrendering the
people that we had demanded. The
conversation was reported to me by day
break the morning of the fight and the
troops were posted where they could
command the situation. On an Open
plain between the reservation and the
bluffs on the opposite side of the river,
the Indians were encamped and all
their movements were plainly visible
from our camp. Sword Bearer, ae-
companied by single warrior an
nounced to his followers that he would
ride all around US and that we could not
harm him. Accordingly he started out.
waving his Saber apparently unnoticeyl
by the soldiers. just as soon as he was
separated from his tribe some distances
say as far as from the Ryan hotel to the
Mississippi river, company of cavalry
was ordered to intercept him and bring
him into camp, dead or alive. Sword
Bearer OWNED our motive and. turning
his horse, gallOped -
BACK To HIS CAMP, a
the soldiers pursuing him. The In
dianS opened ranks to receive him. anG